All Crime, fraud & security articles
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Retail VoiceNavigating retail’s challenges: Costs, crime and changing consumer trends
Rising employment costs, fragile consumer confidence and retail crime are weighing heavily on the sector, but there are still opportunities for growth and innovation. Business insurer NFU Mutual examines the key challenges and opportunities shaping retail’s future.
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NewsM&S launches staff safety app and aims to make stores ‘safe spaces’
Marks & Spencer is providing all employees with a personal safety app that they can use while on the move, Retail Week can reveal.
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AnalysisPartnership update: Asos taps into ChatGPT, Ikea fights crime with new collaboration, and more
Welcome to the Solutions Spotlight partnership update: Retail Week’s round-up of the latest innovative technology and supply chain tie-ups in retail
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InterviewQ&A: Reveal Media CEO says ‘no retailer is unaffected’ by in-store crime
With technologies such as body worn cameras being rolled out more widely to help combat crime and deter it from happening in the first place, we spoke to Reveal Media chief executive Alasdair Field about how said tech is being utilised by retailers, how shoppers react to it, and what else it can be used for.
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AnalysisRefund fraud could cost retailers £2.3bn annually, with scammers taking 30% cuts
A new report by the University of Portsmouth, funded by Cifas, estimates that refund fraud could be costing UK retail dearly.
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NewsRetailers fund £23m security investment into the West End
Hundreds of retailers and local businesses across London’s West End are injecting £23m into strengthening security operations and infrastructure in the area, Retail Week can reveal.
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NewsHundreds of arrests made since launch of retail crime unit
The Pegasus Partnership, a collaboration between retailers, the police and the Home Office, has made hundreds of arrests and led to more than 100 years’ worth of prison sentences.
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Opinion‘As public awareness of the horrors of retail crime increases, so too does the risk of a PR disaster’
With Sainsbury’s following Waitrose and Morrisons as the latest retail giant to find itself in the news on retail crime for all the wrong reasons, Charlotte Hardie questions whether there is still a disconnect on the issue between head office and the shop floor.
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NewsStarmer: ‘Tide could be turning’ on scourge of shop crime
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has maintained that “the tide could be turning” on shoplifting and highlighted measures the government has taken to tackle retail crime.
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Opinion‘New laws will fail shop workers unless employers make it easier to report crime’
Many retail workers don’t feel that reporting crimes will make a difference. That urgently needs to change, says Retail Trust chief executive Chris Brook-Carter
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AnalysisWhat threat do Claude Mythos and ‘hacktivist attacks at scale’ pose to retail?
Claude developer Anthropic claimed earlier this month that it had developed a new AI model capable of finding hidden vulnerabilities in every major operating system and browser. With retail already a particularly vulnerable target, how much of a threat is this new tech?
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NewsMet Police chief says retailers need to ‘step up more’ to combat shoplifting
The head of the Metropolitan Police Sir Mark Rowley has said retailers need to “step up more” and work with the police to help tackle shoplifting.
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Opinion‘M&S has spoken out powerfully on retail crime – now let’s pressure authorities to act’
The dismissal of a Waitrose staffer for confronting thieves and M&S’ response to mob rule has put retail crime on the political agenda and should be followed up by the industry, says George MacDonald
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NewsUK retail staff facing violent behaviour up 12% in a year
Retail staff experiencing violent behaviour in the UK saw double-digit growth last year, according to data from global retail crime intelligence company Auror.
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Interview‘There’s genius in simplicity’: Vocovo CEO on the importance of a connected store
Retail Week sat down with Vocovo chief executive Beth Worrall about the importance of a connected store for the colleague and customers, AI being leveraged in-store, and how retail staff are battling with the increasing crime and abuse inflicted on them.
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NewsA fifth of UK customers have witnessed violence or abuse of shopworkers
More than 14 million people across the UK have witnessed violence or abuse against retail workers in the last year, according to new survey data from the BRC.
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DataThe numbers behind the BRC’s new retail crime survey
The British Retail Consortium’s latest crime report shows that violence and abuse against staff fell last year. However, while the numbers are trending in the right direction, the report also lays bare how much there is still to do.
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NewsIncidents of violence and crime against retail staff down by a fifth
Incidents of violence and abuse against retail staff fell by a fifth last year, as investment by brands, improved police response times and closer collaboration between stakeholders begin to bear fruit.
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AnalysisFive takeaways from Retail Week’s Crime and Colleague Safety Summit
Retail Week hosted its first ever Retail Crime and Colleague Safety Summit this week, with speakers from the likes of Primark, Tesco, B&Q, Co-op, BP, Boots, and representatives from the Metropolitan Police
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Chart of the WeekChart of the Week: Brits lead world in perceptions of how common shoplifting is
A survey of 17 countries shared exclusively with Retail Week by research firm YouGov showed that Brits were most likely to think shoplifting was common in their country